The Bride of the Water God
by FableRaleigh
Summary: Mio Akiyama is just a normal girl, living a normal life in the suburbs of Tokyo. But a sudden attack brings her in contact with people blessed with immortality. Mio falls in love with the man who saves her but will her love be requited? What will be the outcome of the meeting? Does it signify the start of something good for Mio? Or is it just the start of Mio's troubles...MioxHaru.
1. chapter 1

AN: This is a Mio Akiyama x Haruka Nanase fanfiction. I do not own any of the characters in my story other than the plot of the story. Free! and K-On! are owned by Ooji Kouji and Kakifly respectively.

Chapter 1: Spirited Away

I felt the wet mud squelch under my feet as I ran in the rain through the forest. Thick droplets of water hit my face, blurring my eyesight and making my cheeks hurt. I had lost my shoes long ago in the chase, and yet I could not shake my attackers off. Stray branches struck me and my whole body ached from the strain of running. I felt my lungs paining and my heart thudding, demanding that I collapse and rest for a while but somehow my mind forced my legs to run. Subconsciously, I knew that if I sat down now, I would not be able to get up and that would be the end of me. I choked on the tears that ran down my face and my voice came out in soft whispers. I heard their voices behind me and the heavy thuds of their feet as they ran behind me. My beautiful gown was already in tatters and only one thing ran through my mind: 'Somebody please save me from this hell…'

It was then that I saw a great wall of entangled trees and bushes before me. I was trapped. I could not go back. I felt tears of frustration clogging my throat even as I desperately looked around for an escape route. There had to be one. I could not die like this. I was only twenty-one and I was at the top of my batch in college. I was awarded for my wonderful performance in academics, just this evening and today was supposed to be the most wonderful day of my life. I danced with my friends and had so much fun. So how did it end up with me being kidnapped by thugs and on the verge of being raped and killed, running alone in a desperate bid to keep myself alive?

But even as I stood there in the rain, desperately forcing my mind to think and trying to catch a breath, looking at the mysterious wall of trees before me, I heard the peal of thunder overhead. It seemed to shake the very ground over which I was standing. I looked up to the sky as it rained fat droplets of water on me: So this is how I was to be killed. I was an only child, the apple of my parents' eyes. I was not born with any proverbial golden spoon in my mouth but I worked hard. My parents worked hard and they loved each other a lot. They did not earn millions, but they earned a decent wage and they lived happily. They embedded in me the values of courage and persistence and the conquering power of true love. It was also one of the reasons why I had been single all this time. Somehow, I always believed that I too had someone waiting for me out there, waiting to reveal their love for me. And when that time came, we too would live a fulfilling life like that of my parents. I therefore worked hard and gave my best to everything, hoping to make my parents proud and find myself better jobs. And yet, here I stood, waiting for the end to come. I watched as huge shadows appeared at a distance and grew as the four men walked towards me.

"So the wench has at last given up. She is a tasty one, don't you think?" A husky voice spoke up. I felt my back hit the wall of branches and leaves, and a sob rose in my throat. I forced my choked throat to work.

"Please, let me go…if you need money, I know my dad will pay you…please…please let me go…"

"I like her voice. She has a sweet voice. Wonder if we can make her sing, eh boys?" A raucous round of laughter followed.

I felt rivulets of rainwater flow down the exposed areas of my skin. The next moment, I felt a hand roughly catch hold of my hair and twist it, making me scream out in agony. Hot tears leaked out of my eyes, and intermingled with the cold rainwater. Frustration and pain made me tremble and suddenly a hand roughly grabbed hold of my face, forcing me to look up at the sky. Darkness prevented me from seeing the faces of my assaulters. The rain seemed to drum down harder on my face.

"So, shall we start, boys? I know that this one is a firecracker from the way she squirmed when we caught her…"

Suddenly there was the great sound of thunder, which even made the wall of trees behind me shake violently and shudder.

"Whoa, this is some ugly storm…"

But somehow, I felt the trees behind me continue to shake and shudder. I tried to turn my head to see what was happening, but the fingers of the man in my hair tightened and my scalp throbbed with pain. I choked on my own breath. I could not even muster the strength to scream for help. Nobody would hear me anyway. Somehow I felt the cold beginning to grow and my eyesight seemed to be growing dimmer. Was this the end already? Did god finally listen to my plea to kill me rather than face the ordeal of being raped and killed?

"Wait, did you hear that sound right now? Something seems to be moving?"

I forced my eyes to open and felt the fingers in my hair go lax. I felt that this was my chance to again run but somehow I did not have the strength anymore. My feet were weak and my body seemed to be numb with a burning pain. I knew that even if I ran, I did not have the strength to run very far. I knew that I would collapse anyway and then these brutes would catch hold of me anyway and maybe then, they would kill me more violently than they were prone to now. I closed my eyes and prayed fervently…if there really was my true love out there; please send him for me, to rescue me. It was a futile hope but I still prayed. Maybe god would be kind enough to…

"How dare you put your filthy hands on her? You bastards…"

I did not have the strength to force myself to look up to see the newcomer and truthfully I did not even care anymore. I felt the darkness closing in on me even as I felt the fingers leave my hair and my hair tumbled down. I felt my body become numb and I got the sensation that I was falling; from where I did not know. The side of my face hit the ground with such force that the cool mud splattered one side of my face. As I lay there in the mud, I felt the cool rain drum on the side of my face which was falling from the open sky. As my senses slowly returned to me, I realised that no one was attacking me or grabbing me. I opened my eyes and saw that as lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the grove of trees, four men stood surrounding a single man. I squinted to see properly, but the darkness returned. I tried to move but all my limbs protested against any kind of movement. I looked around for any kind of support there was no kind of stout stick to support my weight. So I just lay there, watching and hoping for another flash of lightning, to light up the face of the newcomer.

As my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, I saw as one of my assaulters ran towards the newcomer. Suddenly everything seemed to happen in slow-motion. As the lightning again flashed in the sky, I saw the new-comer throw a punch. It hit the man's face with such ferocity, that it almost threw the man backwards. My eyes widened involuntary as I watched the newcomer defend himself effortlessly against the other three men. And it was all over in a few minutes, but to me who waited with bated breath, it seemed to me to go on forever. Every time I hoped that the man would not get hurt. As their groans and agonized shouts reached me, I felt an irrational glee to see my assaulters being beaten up. My heart swelled for the new-comer and I thanked god for sending him to save me. I wanted him to beat those bastards to a pulp, till they could not stand anymore, for them to lie in the mud as I lay, to make them face the same hell that I faced while I ran through the deep forest, looking for an escape route.

I smiled as fresh tears leaked out of my eyes. My mother was right…if there was someone in this world truly meant for me, he would come no matter what. He would feel the same pain as I did, he would feel the same joy that I felt, and he would feel the same love that I felt. That was what it meant to be soul mates, to be so intrinsically bound to each other, that without the other, life would be dull and bland. Love that was so overwhelming that being away from each other, once the people had met would be a physical pain. The man there fighting for me must have been my soul mate. He must have felt the desperation that I felt today as I was captured, as I ran and as I looked up the great wall of trees and branches. He must have known that I prayed for him to come and save me…or else how would he have known that I was in trouble, how would he have known that I was here, in the middle of a deserted forest…

I watched as he grunted and beat the fourth and last man, who collapsed in a dead faint. I closed my eyes happily. At last, I could die happily. I could not move as my limbs felt stiff and wooden. I felt so cold and frozen. But I was happy that I was not harmed in the way that I thought that I would be. I heard footsteps and I turned my head to see the man standing over me. He then kneeled beside me and picked up my prone body and faced it towards the sky. I felt his strong muscles bunch under my back…

"You do not have to do that." I breathed.

"You are grievously injured. You need treatment." A deep voice answered me. He picked me up bridal style, "We will try to get you treatment."

I opened my eyes slowly to look at him. I could only make out the strong cuts of his face and his brilliant blue eyes. They were like the deep blue ocean on a summer day. I lifted up my hand or rather forced it up by sheer force of will and touched his cheek. They were rough with the beginning of stubble. Something told me that this man was always clean-shaven. I smiled softly: This man was somehow growing to be more my type.

"What are you doing?" he asked as I continued to caress his face. His voice had lost its previous roughness, even though it was still somber. "Are you not in pain?"

The rain was still falling but now it was a bit weaker. And yet we stood there in the rain, with none of us moving. I was not in a position to move but even he stood there motionless, holding me close to him. I felt his body heat seep through his wet shirt and heat up my body. I snuggled up closer to him for that favoured heat. It was then that I felt myself trembling fiercely and I could not stop. The aftermath of the rush of adrenaline that I had experienced were now setting in.

"You are shaking…"

I then looked up, "You are a hypocrite, you know that…but anyway I am so glad you came. Thank god, you came…" And I finally felt the darkness set in, giving me that release that I had been longing for all this time. And yet I only felt happiness as the fear receded never to come back. I was at last safe and sound. It was true what my mother had said all this time, he had come to rescue and protect me after all. He was truly my soul-mate. The only thing that was left was to convince him to feel the same way too…

AN: So this is the first chapter of my very first fanfiction of any kind. I was binging on the anime series of Free! and K-ON! when the idea just popped into my head. Please read and review. I would love to hear what you all think after reading this chapter.

Yours truly,

Fable.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Choice

Footsteps echoed in the dimly lit corridor as the lesser god scurried down towards the great door at the end of the corridor. The mahogany door was beautifully carved with figures of gods of yore, frolicking among themselves and passing out judgments to the lesser beings on earth. Fire crackled in the fire holders mounted on the high walls and cast long shadows on the floor. The god passed through the darkness and occasionally firelight flickered on his person. He tapped three times on the door, making sure that they were loud enough to be heard on the other side and corresponding to the pattern which signified that the message was important and could not wait.

He waited with bated breath, to see if he would be denied entrance. Even though he was a lesser god, he was also the head of the guards of the east side, which was the most important side and was one of the portals leading to the human realm, other than the north side. As such, he had a position of importance to report any kind of trouble that he sighted and the head god was bound to listen to him. But as of the moment there was a powerful aura that was coming from the Forest of the Doomed. This was the first time that any such aura had emanated from the forest. They were a few stray black, evil auras of the criminals who came there on a regular basis but other than that, there were no such incidents that had occurred that caused the guards to be really worried about. But somehow tonight, there was this desperate aura which seemed to signal distress and danger. The aura was unlike normal human beings and as such it was his duty to report the news.

After a few moments, the great door opened with a huge creak. The god entered the huge, dimly-lit chamber and bowed deeply, before straightening up. A huge curtain shielded the great gods from his eyes but he could see their blurred silhouettes just behind the curtain. A strong smell of sweet incense permeated every corner of the room. Nobody had actually seen what the great gods looked like, shielded as they were behind a translucent curtain; and rumours floated about regularly in the palace about them. The onnas who serviced the gods however deigned to comment as they were under a strict vow of silence. In fact, this was the first time that the guard himself had entered the great chamber and even seen the silhouettes of these gods.

"Speak…" A voice boomed in the room.

"Trouble has been sighted in the east portal. A powerful aura is emanating from that side, which is unlike that of any mortal. I have asked a few of my sentries to investigate but it will…"

"Call those sentries back…" the voice of the god interrupted his speech, "I understand what is happening. Your sentries will not be able to solve the problem in front of us. We need an experienced person. Deliver a message for me." The lesser god watched as the small frog-god appeared in front of him, bearing a roll of parchment and extended it to him. The god accepted the container and looked up.

"Deliver this container to the Rain God Haruka and the Thunder God Rin. They will know what to do. Now go and deliver this quickly."

The lesser god again executed a deep bow and exited the room. The door closed with a loud bang behind him.

Silence reigned in the chamber as the hidden onnas again came out and poured sake into the nearly empty glasses of the gods. The clinking of glasses was heard and soft chatter filled the room as the onnas tried their best to please the gods. Amidst them, the two head gods sat a little isolated from the others. One of them had long snow white hair, which was neatly tied up into a bun and a thin moustache that trailed down to his chin. His face was covered in wrinkles and his eyes were nearly hidden under the bushy white eyebrows. Having survived for centuries, he had enough of worldly pleasures and now was only content to see other younger gods seek the pleasures of the flesh. He sipped slowly from his glass of sake as he watched the other gods frolic with the onnas and heard their boisterous laughter mingle with soft and coy laughter of the onnas. He sank back deeper into the soft cushions and let out a sigh.

"The time has come Yamato…the time that she had predicted that will come before she left us forever…"

The slightly younger god with salt and pepper hair tied up into a long sleek ponytail, dismissed the onna who was pouring sake into his glass. With a small nod, the onna moved away.

"You are talking about Misaki, are you not?"

The god nodded. "What the guard failed to tell us is that the aura is that of a girl. Remember how Misaki had predicted that ten thousand years from that fated day, when a girl arrived at the eastern portal, emanating an aura unlike a mortal; she was wont to bring misfortune and great luck upon us. Welcome her and she will reveal the secret to happiness and displease her and she will bring trouble that not even the gods can escape."

"Well," Yamato delicately sipped sake from the cup, "I would not put the amount of trust that you are prone to put on whatever Misaki had predicted. If she was as great a soothsayer as you often give her credit for, Yuudai, she would not have turned her back upon us gods and on you and settled for that measly mortal. She never once thought of us fellow immortals, never once spared a thought to your feelings. Instead, she gladly gave up her immortality and became a mortal, just to satisfy some warped sense of love that she had acquired from who knows where…"

"She was happy, Yamato and that is all that counts in my opinion. We are not yet immortals Yamato, it is just that we live for a great long time and exist in different realms simultaneously that we have become immortals to the human beings. Besides this is how we can truly figure out if Misaki was truly as good in her predictions as the Mother god herself was. We welcome the girl and see if she truly has the great secret that Misaki talked about…"

"And if she does not have that secret and all of what Misaki said was a lie?"

"I think that is not probable. Misaki was never wrong in her predictions."

"Yes, after all, she was the one who predicted the war between the gods and the youkai."

"It was for her timely warning that the gods even managed to win against the youkai. I hope that you have not forgotten that, Yamato…"

"So why did you send the two insolent pups to rescue the girl…you could have sent the more responsible guys in the army…"

"You forget Yamato that Haruka is the next Water God, in line with the original mode of succession. So watch what you say about him and those other younger gods. They would be in your place now, if not for their inexperience at the time the war ended and the peace treaty was signed. It is not right that you asked Haruka to be replaced by Atsushi. I agreed at that point since Haruka at the moment was too young to carry out his duties properly…but now that he has come of age and is able to carry out any duty properly, remember that as the head god and as your leader, I will be pressing his suit to the others to install him as the new water god, replacing Atsushi. I knew that Haru's father would have expected that of me. He was the Water God himself and it was to save the realm of the gods that he bravely laid down his life in the war and left his son to our care. As such it is our duty to give his son what is his birth-right. And anyways, all I can ever see Atsushi doing is spending time with the onnas and neglecting his duties, leaving all the tasks to Haruka. Our realm has no need for slackers. We need honest men as gods who fully know the enormity of their office and the responsibility that they bear. And for your information, Haruka is not insolent. He is quite smart and knows what is required of him. He is one of the most hard-working boys that I have ever seen."

"But he does act out of position when he speaks with you while looking in the eye, when he is not a high god…"

"I am reminding you again, Yamato that he is a high god by birth. And besides I quite like his eyes, the beautiful blue colour is symbolic of his noble birth…"

"I do not think I sometimes get you, Yuudai." Yamato signaled to one of the onnas to refill his glass as he relaxed into the cushions behind him.

"I do not think you ever will, Yamato." Yuudai said with a gentle smile.

"What is the meaning of this?" Rin shouted as Haru watched the young god cower. The messenger was not much older than him and Rin. The message had come from the high gods and yet it was this messenger who had to experience their wrath. Haru stood up with a swish of his silk robes. Rin was getting too much worked up.

"So did they say anything else other than asking you to deliver this message?"

Haru patted Rin's back in an effort to signal him to retreat. Fortunately he took the signal and walked out of the room with a huff. Haru then turned back to the messenger, "You are dismissed if you have nothing else to say."

The messenger whispered, "It is a powerful aura and is coming from the east portal. You have been asked to investigate the source. I asked the head god to allow me to lend my soldiers but he refused telling me to just allow the two of you to handle the situation."

"Any idea of who the culprit is?" Haru opened the wooden container and took out the rolled parchment. His eyes skimmed the writing as the messenger muttered a soft 'No'.

"Then you are dismissed." Haru said and waited until the door closed behind him before moving over towards the lamp on his desk to read the message better.

Today is the day when you find your inheritance. Rescue the girl who asks for help at the eastern portal. She is the key surrounding the mystery of what the youkai were searching for all this time and what your parents had sought to protect, for you to gain. She will have the thing that you need most. She will have the secret to help you expose the lie that you have been living all your life. Trust her and protect her. And you have my blessings in order to bring peace to this wonderful land.

Yours humbly,

Misaki.

Haru turned over the parchment and searched to see if there was any information regarding who Misaki was. As far as he could remember, there was no one that he could remember in the realm of the gods who was known as Misaki. And to have her message sent by the high gods was a serious matter. Haru looked at the fire burning in the lamp. He knew that he had been cheated out of his inheritance: when he should have been one of the high gods, carrying out his duties as the Water God, he was carrying out the orders of the no-good Atsushi, who instead of being a measly third class god, was sitting on the council and giving off orders which were designed to create destruction half of the time. Half of the time, Haru was carrying out Atsushi's orders and remedying Atsushi's half-assed instructions. It should be Rin and Haru on that board of councils, being the next in line in the original line of succession and yet the war which had caused widespread destruction and had turned the land topsy-turvy had left them as young orphans, unable to carry out their duties properly. To remedy the situation, the great god Yuudai had asked lesser gods who were alive at the time and old enough to give instructions to act as regents. But even now, those lesser gods were still on the council, refusing to budge from their positions. Rin was openly hostile to them but Haru did not find any reason to be hostile. Yes, there was resentment in him to not be given his birthright but open hostility would produce no results other than disruption. Haru did not like disruption. He was good with the way things are and therefore he went on with the existing system quietly. But if this girl was truly as brilliant as the parchment proclaimed her to be then he would check it and her out. Besides the messenger did stammer out that she had a powerful aura. Haru rolled up the parchment and stuffed it in the container. He had to get ready quickly; after all he had a damsel to rescue.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey, Fable here. So this is the third chapter of The Bride of the Water God. I had planned to upload this chapter a few weeks back but life just got in the way with college entrance exams and other stuff. Please accept my sincere apologies for that. In my previous chapters, I had used a few terms which do not belong to the English language. Again I am sorry that I did not upload the meanings along with the previous chapter but here they are. They may or may not be accurate but these are roughly the sense in which I used them in my previous chapter. I hope that I did not inconvenience my readers in any way.

Onna: woman;

Sake: It is a Japanese drink, made out of fermented rice;

Youkai: Demons and evil spirits;

Please feel free to tell me if there is any part of my story which is ambiguous or is not making any sense or simply just drop in a review to tell me your thoughts on the story. I would love to hear from you. That is all I wanted to say. Thank you for reading. Now, on with the story…

Chapter 3: Morning

Mio could not remember the last time she had slept in a bed so warm and comfortable. As far as she could remember, ever since she had moved out of her parents' home at the age of eighteen, she had to make do with futons which were not as comfortable as she would have liked them to be, but she was too conscientious with her hard-earned money from her part-time job at the bookstore to waste it on luxuries that she believed she could do without. Besides she also heard from the girls at college that sleeping on hard surfaces helped to burn extra calories. Experience of three years had taught her that all of them were nothing but big, fat lies as her love handles were as obstinate as before. Sometimes, Nodoka was right: She really was a fool when it came to losing weight.

But this bed was too comfortable to be real. The more Mio snuggled into it, the more it occurred to her that she must be dreaming and she needed to wake up soon. But waking up was hard and all she wanted was a little more time, before she was ready to face reality. After all reality meant getting ready for and going to college, working hard to be the topper of her college, working at her part-time job at the library and then returning home and cooking for herself and paying the landlady her daily rent. It was a humdrum life but she was okay with it. She was a creature of habit and was never okay if her routine was somehow disrupted. For example, look what happened to her when she, instead of simply going home went out for a few drinks with her friends, she nearly got…

Mio woke up with a loud scream when suddenly something fluffy landed on top of her chest. Her scream startled the creature as the weight on her chest vanished in an instant. Mio sat up, heaving for breath as her sleep-addled brain scrambled to make heads and tails of her situation. She pushed her wild bed-hair out of her face and looked around the room. And what she saw took her breath away.

It was definitely not her two rooms flat with small windows overlooking the buildings opposite. This one room itself seemed big enough to contain her whole flat with space to spare and seemed opulent enough to pay over her annual rent of her flat ten times over. The bed on which she was lying was very much unlike her thread-bare futon, being a four-poster princess bed, with white translucent curtains hanging all around it. She herself was wearing a silk nightdress, which seemed to be very expensive and was very luxurious to the touch. The bed covers were also made of silk of the highest quality. The floor of the room was carpeted with a red and white carpet which beautifully depicted pictures of dragons over fiery landscapes, fighting battles and frolicking. The walls of the room were painted in rich jewel colours, which sparkled as the soft morning sunlight fell on them. There was a huge mirror on one side of the room, beautifully decorated with pearls and precious stones. Beside the bed and even at a distance in front of it, there were tables made of rich mahogany wood, exquisitely carved and polished. One side of the wall had a bookshelf which seemed to reach the ceiling, with books of different colours lined up neatly while there was a huge balcony, with glass doors, set in the wall opposite the bed, looking out towards the neatly pruned and beautifully planned garden beyond. Everything about this place was so like a dream. Mio settled back in the soft cushions with a sigh. Not only had she no memory of what happened the previous night but she was suddenly in a room that only existed in fairytales and Disney movies. She was in serious trouble and she needed help pronto.

There was no use panicking. Mio pinched herself to see if it was a dream or not but everything looked and felt so real, from the nightdress to the books on the shelves to the pale blue sky that could be seen from the balcony. All she needed was to wait, until someone came and explained it all to her. But what exactly did happen last night? Mio felt the beginning of a headache as she clutched at her head and tried to remember. She remembered being felicitated along with Nodoka in their college for topping their respective disciplines, law and medicine. There was a lot of screaming and shouting and boisterous celebration and then she remembered dancing and drinking at a club, with all the other college students, including Nodoka. It was a large group and the party got pretty rowdy at the end. Mio herself remembered having had a great number of cocktails and tequila shots. She then remembered Nodoka's phone ringing with her mother having come to pick her up as Nodoka was drunk and not in the condition to drive herself home. Nodoka asked her to go with her but she refused saying that she could make it home on her own, walking, as it was just a matter of a few blocks. Nodoka left and it was a while before the party was wrapped up due to the club's closing time. It was pretty late but from there onwards the memories got woozy. She remembered coming out of the club and starting to walk towards her home but then it became a blank slate. Mio could only surmise that since she was not lying on her futon, she did not reach home but then where was this place anyway…

That was why she hated to drink alcohol. Not only did she always get an ugly hangover the morning after but she also forgot stuff easily. Many were envious of her ability to forget everything that she did while she was drunk but Mio herself saw it as a major setback. She did not even know if she made a fool out of herself or not. There might just be embarrassing pictures of herself while drunk and yet she would be totally oblivious. But even the few times she did drink, she made it home safely. Her landlady was kind enough to look out for her. This was the first time that she found herself in a foreign place without any idea of where she was. It was then it struck her… even if she was in some weird mansion maybe she could get hold of a mobile phone or a phone of any kind and call Nodoka up, asking her to pick her up. Maybe this house belonged to some girl who went to their all-women's college, even though she could not remember any girl going to their college, who was so rich so as to boast of a mansion with rooms as beautiful as this.

Mio tentatively got out of the bed and stepped on the soft carpet. As she stood up, a sudden bout of nausea overcame her and she sat back down on the bed. It was then that the door opened with a loud bang, startling her out of her senses. Mio looked up to see a girl standing at the doorway. An elegant white cat stood beside the girl's feet and it struck Mio that the weight which woke her up was nothing but the cat leaping on top of her as she slept. But Mio never remembered seeing the girl in front of her in college. The girl seemed to be of the same age as Mio and was beautiful, wearing satin robes of rich jewel colours. An erratic thought struck Mio that everyone and everything in this house seemed to love jewels and their rich deep colours.

"Thank god, you are awake…" the girl came forward and touched Mio's head. Her touch was cool and soothing and Mio closed her eyes to savor the feel. "…You are a little hot but then the herb drink that I gave you will be good for your health. You will be up on your feet in no time."

Mio opened her eyes to look at the girl. Up close, the girl was even more pretty with her platinum wavy locks down to her waist and features of a porcelain doll. She had extremely thick eyebrows but somehow, those eyebrows seemed to suit her. Up close, Mio saw that the girl's robes were actually an elaborate kimono that trailed behind her. The robes reminded her of the attire of ancient Japanese women who had a lot of wealth and could therefore afford rich brocaded satin and silk cloths for their kimonos as compared to the farmers' cotton kimonos. The kimono that the girl wore was so beautiful and seemed so luxurious that Mio wondered if it was custom-made. Everything in the house seemed to shout opulence so a custom-made kimono would be no surprise… Even though the dress was so old fashioned, it seemed to suit the girl perfectly, making her give off a very mature vibe, even though she seemed to be of the same age as Mio. The girl's eyes were a curious mix of pale blue and cerulean blue and her skin was so translucent that Mio could even see the light blue veins threading their way down her throat. She seemed to give off an ethereal glow prompting Mio to blurt out, "Who are you?"

The girl seemed to be taken aback momentarily by her question but she regained her composure and smiled softly, "I am Tsumugi. And you are?"

"I am Mio Akiyama." Mio did not remember seeing the girl at the party but maybe she was one of those silent girls who just stood on the sidelines, even though the idea of a girl as pretty and striking as her standing on the sidelines. So as an afterthought, she added, "I do not remember exactly what happened yesterday night so could you maybe fill me in on the details?"

Mio waited with bated breath to see the girl's reaction. Maybe she would laugh out or maybe she could just flare up and start ranting about how much trouble Mio had given her yesterday. So when the girl softly smiled back again, Mio was the one who was taken aback.

"You have been passed out for three days but it was a given provided the terrible experience you went through…so it was not exactly yesterday…"

"Wait…" Mio looked up at the girl's face and frowned, "Terrible experience?"

"Oh!" The girl looked shocked, "You do not remember anything about what happened?"

Mio shook her head intrigued. The girl looked at Mio for a while as if to ascertain if she was joking or not, before she took a deep breath and took a seat beside Mio on the bed. Mio looked down to see the cat curl up at Tsumugi's feet.

"Do not mind Venus. She is a very well-behaved cat. Um…so even I am not sure what exactly happened. Apparently you were being chased by some criminals with bad intentions when you came across to the east portal. You gave off such a powerful aura of distress that even the High gods noticed you. They then sent the thunder god Rin and the rain god Haru to investigate and they found and rescued you from those petty criminals. They brought you here and now you are here…sorry I know this is not sufficient information, but this is all I know at the moment…" Tsumugi looked back apologetically.

"I hope you do not mind me asking…but who are these gods that you are talking about? Is this a title or do they belong to a secret organization and stuff? Am I in trouble or something? If there…"

Mio watched to see Tsumugi's eyes widen, "You really do not know do you?"

"What?" Now it was Mio's turn to be shocked, "Am I missing out on some part? Last I checked I was clean and I was supposed to be returning home from a party. I am thankful that you saved me and all but..." Mio could not even complete her sentence.

"I thought I felt the aura too but really it is true. You are half-human and half-god – a rare hybrid. The Greeks called you people 'demigods'. We Gods are the same people known as 'kami-sama' by the people, inherent of great power and mystic abilities. But unlike demigods, rather than having more of human qualities, you have godly qualities. And as a kami, we can also feel the other kami's aura by virtue of which we can distinguish our kind from humans and youkai. Like your aura is really soft and you smell of white roses." Mio watched as Tsumugi brought her nose to her neck and breathed in deeply. Being too shocked to react, she watched as Tsumugi smiled happily, "Yup, it is very subtle but it is there…which proves that you are a kami too."

"What does being a Kami entail?" Mio could not help but ask. The girl was really cooking up a good story.

"Nothing…that depends on the power that you are born with. Like I am the goddess of herbs. Therefore I am learned in the scope of herbal medicine and fall in the scope of healers. See you had a few bruises and cuts…but in a gap of three days, the cuts are already developed into scabs and are peeling off. There are many categories of kamis you see: Of the high gods, born of pure bloods dating back centuries, some act as healers, some as elements gods, some as soothsayers, some as weather gods and messengers, and as such. Then there are the lower gods, by-blows of the onnas and other low-ranking gods, who simply act as guards and secretaries to the high gods, assistants, messengers, servers and other such simple jobs. There is a strict hierarchy which all of us gods have to follow though there has been a mix-up in the ranks recently… "

Mio felt her interest slipping even as Tsumugi went on speaking. There was a limit to how much a girl could make up and as the girl belonging to a rich family, Tsumugi must have had a lot of time to make up fantastical stories. So Mio interrupted her in a desperate bid to shut her up and leave this crazy place.

"Anyways I am okay with all these kami stuff and all and it was really great to meet you Tsumugi…but I really need to go home soon. You see I have college in a few hours and I really need to leave. So if you could really bring me a phone and get me in contact with any of the other girls in college, I will be really happy. I will again get in contact with you someday, okay?"

Mio stopped talking when she saw Tsumugi staring at her weirdly as if she had spouted a second head, "I need to go to college…do you not go to college too?"

After a few minutes of heavy silence, with Mio staring at her uncomprehending, Tsumugi softly smiled again, "I think you really forgot, didn't you? But you see, once you have seen the kami world, you can never really return…because only the fortunate ones can see the kami world and those fortunate ones are the kami themselves, born and bred in the kami world. You are a rare exception. You are no more in the human world, Mio Akiyama. You are now in the kami world, in fact one of the kami themselves. I have been sent to welcome you here. Now please allow me to assist you, as the High Gods are waiting for your arrival. It is not polite to keep people waiting…"

Mio could only stare…

XXX

AN: So here is the meaning of the only Japanese word most prevalently used here.

Kami: Gods and good spirits in general

Read and Review :)


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